licks

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of lick.

   The cat licks its fur for hours to keep it clean.

   The flame licks the underside of the kettle as the water heats.

   Note

   The form a singular subject takes in the present: she licks, the dog licks. Most uses are innocent, like a cat cleaning its paws or a child cleaning a spoon. The senses of beating someone or defeating them decisively are colloquial and now dated. There is also a vulgar slang sense referring to oral sex, so context matters more than it might seem.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of lick.

   The guitarist worked some bluesy licks into the middle of the solo.

   A couple of fresh licks of paint brightened the weathered fence.

   Note

   One plural covers a surprisingly wide spread of nouns. Licks can be strokes of the tongue, the small amounts each stroke takes up, or quick careless coats, as in licks of paint. In the landscape, licks are places where animals lick minerals from the ground, or small streams ranking between a rill and a stream. Meaning blows, the word is colloquial. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2